Integrating New Technology and Procedures into Your Practice

Surgical technology has evolved dramatically over centuries and exponentially over the past several decades. These technological advances and new procedures are improving patient care outcomes and efficiency of care. Often, with laparoscopic surgery, for example, these advances are becoming the standard of care. This review will go into detail on how to incorporate these technological advances into practice. Specifically, the role of the surgeon, vendor, and the supply chain operations personnel will be outlined. The steps to getting a new product in stock and available for use for the surgeon will also be detailed. These steps include product review, trial period, approval of product, and purchasing. Integrating new procedures should be just as methodological. Therefore, this review will also focus on the credentialing, privileging, and ongoing monitoring of the safety of the surgeon integrating new procedures and surgical techniques into their practice. One common theme of this review is that consistency and standardization are key principles during the integration process to ensure patient safety and delivery of quality outcomes.